The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human SciencesThis study of the early human sciences and their deep connections to spiritualism dispenses with the myth that separates magic and modernity. Many theorists contend that the defining feature of modernity is our collective loss of faith in spirits, myths, and magic. But in The Myth of Disenchantment, Jason A. Josephson-Storm argues against this narrative, showing that attempts to suppress magic have failed more often than not. Even the human sciences have been more enchanted than is commonly supposed. But that raises the question: How did a magical, spiritualist, mesmerized Europe ever convince itself that it was disenchanted? Josephson-Storm traces the history of the myth of disenchantment in the births of philosophy, anthropology, sociology, folklore, psychoanalysis, and religious studies. He demonstrates that the founding figures of these “mythless” disciplines were in fact profoundly enmeshed in the occult and spiritualist revivals of Britain, France, and Germany. It was in response to this milieu that they produced notions of a disenchanted world. By providing a novel history of the human sciences and their connection to esotericism, The Myth of Disenchantment dispatches with most widely held accounts of modernity and its break from the premodern past. |
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Aleister Crowley argued Bacon basic belief Benjamin Blavatsky Burckhardt Cambridge Carnap chapter Chicago Press Christian claim conception contemporary critical theory critique Crowley’s cultural death demons described Dialectic Diderot disenchanted divine enchantment Encyclopédie Enlightenment esoteric esotericism European example fairies famous folklore Frankfurt Frankfurt School Frazer Friedrich George German ghosts Golden Bough Hans Hahn Hegel Horkheimer human Ibid idea imagine Jacobi Kant Klages’s later Lévi Lévi’s logical Ludwig Klages magic magicians Max Weber meaning metaphysics modern Moreover Müller mysticism myth of disenchantment narrative nature Neurath occult Otto Neurath Oxford University Press pagan paranormal philosophy political positivism positivists postmodern Prel primitive Protestant rationality reason reference religion religious studies revival Schiller scholars scientific secularization Sigmund Freud sociology spirits spiritualist Stefan George suggested superstition telepathy Theodor Adorno theosophy thinkers thought tion Tylor University of Chicago Vienna Circle Walter Benjamin witchcraft witches writings York